In-Flight Connectivity (IFC) has become one of the fastest growing markets for satellite. Moderated by Sima Fishman, managing director of Euroconsult, a group of industry experts described how they plan to position themselves in this market.
David Bruner, vice president of global communications services at Panasonic Avionics, said airlines want “a high speed, low cost and reliable network for [their] aircraft wherever it flies in the world.” By the end of the year Panasonic expects to have “86 percent of airline flights routes covered with HTS” and by 2020, 80 percent with extreme HTS.
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Don Buchman, vice president and general manager of commercial mobility at ViaSat, believes the key is “having the right capacity in the right places.” “People are using mobile phones, laptops and iPads, and they want to be able to do the same things wherever they are.”
William Huot-Marchand, vice president of global sales at Thales, said: “Streaming is becoming huge. Today we can see the technology we offer our customer does not meet this demand.” Ultimately, Huot-Marchand hopes to bring to airlines “a real connected experience in the aircraft as you have at home.”
Bruner underlined that because this pocket of the industry is still so young, airlines are still experimenting with various business models. “We offer the ability for the airline to decide what type of service they want almost down to a per-passenger basis.”
The panel agreed that hardware remains a challenge. “Antennas are the Achilles heel of the aviation sector,” said Bruner. “Even small improvements in antenna technology can have a dramatic effect on the cost of megabits delivered to a user on an aircraft.” VS
